


Every Moment it Takes

by meridian_rose (meridianrose)



Series: Be My Guy (modern college au) [2]
Category: Da Vinci's Demons
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Asexual Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, M/M, Mentions other characters, Sequel, asexual spectrum Riario
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-04-08 14:05:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14106993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meridianrose/pseuds/meridian_rose
Summary: Sequel to "Are You Gonna Be My Guy?" Zo and Riario are in a relationship but it doesn't take much for Riario to have doubts whenever someone brings up the subject of sex, or the lack thereof.





	Every Moment it Takes

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Are You Gonna Be My Guy?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11311164) by [meridian_rose (meridianrose)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/meridianrose/pseuds/meridian_rose). 



Riario was sitting on the rooftop when Zo finally found him, halfway through a bottle of brandy.

"I was looking for you," Zo said, coming to sit alongside him on the rough surface.

"Here I am." Riario didn't look at him, staring out across the campus.

"Can I have some?" Zo motioned to the brandy. Riario must have caught the movement in his peripheral vision for he nodded, though it was a moment before he relinquished the bottle. Zo took a swig, handed it back. "What's wrong?"

He expected a "nothing" but to his surprise, showing how far they'd come, Riario gave a harsh laugh and said, "You."

Not the kind of honesty Zo would have wanted but still. "What have I done?"

"It's not what you've done. It's what you want."

"What do I want?"

Riario chewed on his lower lip. Zo wanted to reach out and put ahnd on his shoulder but feared spooking him.

"Sex," Riario said at last.

Shit, this again. "No," Zo began but Riario began venting and he stopped to listen.

"I'm preventing you from a real relationship. You deserve someone to fuck. Everyone needs to fuck," Riario said, each statement a bitter exclamation that had hurt him already and was hurting him now. "Sex is intimacy. You can't love someone and not have intimacy. You can't sleep alongside someone and not fuck them."

"Hey," Zo put in. "We sleep alongside each other all the time."

"How? It's impossible, apparently. Don't you know people enjoy sex? Any relationship without it is pitiful."

"Is this Leo's doing?" Zo asked. "Did he put these ideas back into your head? Because I will punch him in the face. Leo's got two modes, thinking of ridiculous new ideas and thinking with his dick. Less of the latter would be better, so he can shut up about sex."

Riario finally turned his head. Pale, eyes red-rimmed. Zo's first thought was to pull him tight and comfort him, but he stamped down on it. Not while they were having this conversation. It would look as if Zo was trying to stop Riario talking about it.

"It wasn't Leo. This time." Riario took another long swig of brandy. "Lucrezia."

"Well I can't punch her in the face. Why, though, would you listen to anything she says? I know she's your cousin but she's…" Zo tried and failed to come up an adjective that would be accurate enough to describe his thoughts but without being offensive. "Look at her and Leo. All that fucking and it's only ever brought them both pain."

Above them a crow cawed as if in agreement. Riario's fingers tightened on the neck of the bottle. "She was talking about how without birth control women were doomed to endless pregnancies. Religion has played a part even after birth control however, something she failed to recognise."

Zo made a noise of agreement. Riario drank, continued his story.

"She's writing some sort of sociology paper, gathering up personal stories. There was one about someone's grandfather, banished to the barn because her grandmother didn't want to risk her life having yet another pregnancy. Because they couldn't share a bed without fucking."

A frown creased Zo's brows but he stayed silent.

"And I was horrified by the man's lack of self control but Lucrezia was insistent that it was unreasonable to expect people to be married without having sex, over and over, regardless of the consequences," Riario went on. "How little he must have cared about his wife's health, I said, but no, Lucrezia got haughty and said people enjoy sex and are entitled to it. Something about bodily autonomy. And that a sexless marriage is no marriage at all."

Riario made a noise of disgust and took another long swig of brandy. "I know we're not married…"

Zo rubbed at his face and took a deep breath. "Again, don't listen to anything Lucrezia says. She wouldn't know a good decision if it bit her on her naked ass. Next, we're not married but we are together and I love you. We agreed to be monogamous and I'm happy with that. We share a bed, and we kiss, and I'm happy with our level of intimacy. If I've ever made you feel unsafe or unloved, I'm sorry, and I'll try to do better."

Riario nodded but Zo knew he wasn't wholly convinced. He probably never would be, but then that was what a relationship was, not an "I do" and never putting in the work, but constant attention and discussion and respecting each other.

"I'm never going to demand sex," Zo said. "Bodily autonomy is freedom from being violated; you don't have to have sex. No-one is entitled to sex because that involves the use of someone else's body. If Lucrezia thinks bodily autonomy means having sex maybe she can go screw all those men who name themselves incels. Be a public service, stopping their entitled whining."

That drew a small smile. "One of her classmates is writing a paper on the misogyny of the friendzone," Riario said. "She and Lucrezia are at odds over it."

"I bet. But it's not just misogyny, not when women like Lucrezia are expecting sex, and when same gender couples are fighting over it. But we're not fighting," Zo said. "I know you've got baggage that makes it hard for you to trust people and accept that you're loved. But I love you. Not as a means to end, not for the possibility of sex. I love you."

Riario put the bottle down. "I know."

"Deep down though, it's hard to believe?"

Riario nodded, cast his eyes downward.

"It's okay," Zo said. "It'll take time. And I'm here every moment it takes." Now he reached out to put one arm around Riario.

Riario let out a shaky breath, tears threatening. "I love you too. I don't mean to doubt us."

"I get it. Sex is everywhere, held up as the most important thing in your life. That a sexual partner is the only important person in your life. It sucks."

Nodding, Riario said, "Yes and people brag about giving up meat and weed and alcohol and caffeine and masturbation and every other pleasure that only involves only their body, but sex? They cannot go without that. Though as you said, it involves a second party and no-one is entitled to use another's body."

"Yeah, well. People are assholes. More brandy for us, eh?" Zo reached for the bottle with his free hand and took a gulp. "Next time you get upset just repeat that. People are assholes. Who cares what they think? We love each other and that's what matters."

"People are assholes." Riario twisted around and pressed his lips to Zo's. Zo responded eagerly, glad of the contact, the warmth, the taste of brandy in Riaro's mouth.

"Why don't we go inside?" Zo said when Riario drew back. "It's getting chilly up here. And I'd like you to read my essay before I submit it. You're good at finding typos."

"Of course."

They went inside, Zo holding the brandy in one hand, the fingers of his other entwined with those of the man he loved.

**Author's Note:**

> The story Lucrezia tells Riario is based on a post I read and I wrote this fic to work out of my own rage and sadness. I'm asexual and the constant societal pressure to have sex is sometimes exhausting and often hurtful. As such, any comments denying the existence of asexuality, claiming that sex is necessary for a relationship, or otherwise exhorting how wonderful sex is will be deleted.
> 
>  
> 
> [Tumblr promo post](https://meridianrosewrites.tumblr.com/post/172282089557/every-moment-it-takes-meridianrose)


End file.
